AN ACT CONCERNING THE STATE PURCHASE OF SERVICE CONTRACTS FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1.
Section 4-70b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2007):

(a) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall establish an Office of Finance under the direction of an executive financial officer.
The secretary shall assist the Governor in his duties respecting the formulation of the budget and the correlating and revising of estimates and requests for appropriations of all budgeted agencies and shall also assist the Governor in his duties respecting the investigation, supervision and coordination of the expenditures and other fiscal operations of such budgeted agencies.

(b)Said secretary shall direct internal management consultant services to state agencies in such areas as administrative management, facility planning and review, management systems and program evaluation and such other special studies and analyses as he deems necessary.

(c)The secretary shall establish uniform policies and procedures for obtaining, managing and evaluating the quality and cost effectiveness of direct health and human services purchased from private providers.
The secretary shall [ensure]require all state agencies which purchase health and human services comply with such policies and procedures.
The secretary shall report to the General Assembly on or before January 1, [1994]2008, and biennially thereafter, on the system for the purchase of such services in the state.
The report shall include an analysis of (1) the relationship between the number of providers of a particular service in a region and the cost of the service, and (2) the impact of the state's policies and procedures for the purchase of health and human services on the cost of purchasing such services.

(d) The secretary may waive the competitive procurement requirements set forth in chapter 55a with respect to any purchase of service contract between a state agency and a private provider of human services. For purposes of this subsection, "purchase of service contract" means a contract between a state agency and a private provider organization or municipality for the purchase of ongoing direct health and human services for agency clients.

(e) In order to ensure continuity of care in the delivery of health and human services, on or before January 1, 2008, the secretary shall, in consultation with the Connecticut Nonprofit Human Services Cabinet and representatives of state agencies which provide health and human services, develop a plan for the competitive procurement of such services. On or before February 1, 2008, the secretary shall submit such plan to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to human services and public health. In developing the plan the secretary shall give consideration to the following factors: (1) The current market rate for the services provided, (2) whether services provided by a new private provider assure the health, safety and well-being of service recipients, (3) whether services provided by a new private provider assure that community-based services are conveniently located and readily accessible for service recipients, (4) whether selection of a new private provider can avoid unnecessary challenges of local zoning law, and (5) whether selection of a new private provider can avoid creating a conflict with the current service provider's existing bonding contracts or placing the current service provider at risk for losing bonding investment. The secretary may implement such plan on or after July 1, 2008.